


The Night Before Christmas

by HeyMurphy



Series: This Life Before Me [6]
Category: Metalocalypse (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, background Chickles, not sure if it's fair to tag them, they're only there in the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28123353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyMurphy/pseuds/HeyMurphy
Summary: Toki and Magnus' Christmas Eve in Norway doesn't quite go as expected, but ends up better than either of them could've dreamed.
Relationships: Magnus Hammersmith/Toki Wartooth
Series: This Life Before Me [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1780177
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	The Night Before Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the third day of Dethmas - a crossover with your favorite holiday song. Since I couldn't come up with anything for "O Come O Come Emmanuel" lol, I used childhood favorite "The Night Before Christmas" by Amy Grant (which I've just learned was written by Carly Simon, what a legend)

_If your heart’s been longing_

_You've been afraid to try_

_Sorrow’s kept you company_

_And the dance has passed you by_

_I’ll lift you up and blaze with you_

_Across a moonlit sky_

_On the night before Christmas_

_~*~_

Tourists crowded the entryway to the Maihaugen open-air museum, filling the parking lot in a twisting, talkative line while waiting for the gate attendant to allow more of them in. Toki had explained all about the centuries-old wooden houses, the snowy pathways lit overhead by garlands of Christmas lights, the picturesque lake, likely frozen and gorgeous now, and the old church, the steeple of which Magnus could see through the growing dark over the trees from their place in line. Little sunlight remained to the day, and the cold began to bite at his exposed skin and forced him to draw his coat more snugly around his chest.

Pickles slipped a flask from his back pocket and took a long sip before offering it to Charles, who actually accepted, tipped back a generous mouthful, and handed it back. “Toki?” Pickles chirped, shaking it in his direction.

“Nopes, but thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” Thankfully Pickles knew better than to offer it to Magnus, and he stowed it away again in his pocket. “How long’re we gonna hafta wait? It’s too cold to just be standin’ around.” He wriggled his legs like he had to piss and leaned closer to Charles, who put a woolen arm around him.

“Nots long,” Toki said, then hopped up on his toes to peek over the heads in front of them. “Maybes twenty minutes? Thirty?”

A man behind them brushed into Magnus’ back and he took a half step forward to avoid him. There wasn’t much room either way, not without pushing Pickles or Charles into the folks ahead of them. Twenty minutes. He could do twenty more minutes. Just had to focus on something else besides the stranger practically breathing down his neck and the noise of the crowd and the freezing weather and his aching legs from the previous day’s ice skating.

So many fucking people. Magnus had tried to dissuade them from going out earlier as they sat around Pickles and Charles’ suite. Nothing good ever came of going out on Christmas Eve, he argued. Everything would be packed. Best to order some room service and tuck in with a movie or something. But Charles had been the first to argue back, because of course he was. Apparently they hadn’t made the long trip to Norway just to sit around a hotel and eat overpriced burgers, and suddenly it was three against one and they were already getting their shoes and coats.

Magnus breathed in slowly and exhaled to watch the smoke-like condensation escape his lips. He could’ve used a cigarette. Maybe the smell would’ve gotten this jerk off his ass.

A woman’s voice over his shoulder said something in Italian, and the man’s shouted laughter put Magnus’ teeth on edge. He craned his head just enough to cast a bit of a glare at the couple and felt Toki’s left hand thread into his right.

Soft blue eyes widened at him in a silent plea to kindly chill the fuck out, though Toki would never express it like that. Magnus sighed hard and kept his eyes trained on the gate. They hadn’t moved up at all. Zero progress. The fuck was taking so long?

The couple got chatty again, amorous and rowdy, and the man bumped Magnus in his shoulder blade hard enough to rock him forward.

“Ah, scusa, scusa.”

Magnus didn’t acknowledge him, just reset his feet and sucked his chapped bottom lip between his teeth to chew at it. Toki jiggled his hand. He wanted to let go and go back to the car, but he’d made it a point thus far not to be weird in front of Pickles and Charles. Even so, despite his best efforts to keep it at bay, he felt that tell-tale vice closing in around his ribs, that cold anxiety filling his lungs like a slow drowning. Toki’s voice played in his head and the ghost sensation of a palm pressed on his stomach just above his navel. _Belly breaths, Magnus._

He hadn’t wanted to go out. He knew it’d be crowded, he _knew_ . Why didn’t anyone listen to him? Why had Toki not taken his side? God, he just wanted to leave and sit down somewhere quiet. His knees were killing him. And that couple was _still_ laughing. And the line was _still_ stagnant. Was an old church and some busted houses even worth this trouble? 

Jesus, why was he getting so upset about this? Nothing was even wrong.

The gate opened. The line moved a few feet. Magnus took a couple steps forward, and the man behind him was so close the toe of his shoe kicked into the back of his boot. He wanted to scream and a sweat broke out at his hairline. The man’s apology practically vibrated in his ear, and again he ignored it.

How the hell was everyone else fine being packed in like fucking sardines? Why was he the only one freaking out? He couldn’t think straight, his fingers were going numb, and he wanted a drink from Pickles’ flask. Very, very badly. Anything to get him through this. 

Fucking _hell_ , hadn’t it been twenty minutes yet??

Toki heaved a sudden dramatic groan. “Ams so _bored_. Magnus, can we dos somethings else?”

Magnus blinked and stared down at him in disbelief. 

“Yer gonna take off?” Pickles asked casually, though his eyes flicked briefly up to Magnus. “Y’want the keys? Charlie, give ‘em the keys.”

“No, no,” Toki said. “We can walks. I knows a fun place to goes, amn’ts far.”

“Well, all right,” Charles said. “Keep in touch, and we’ll swing by after this and pick you both up.”

Toki wrapped his arms around the two of them in a big hug and then grabbed Magnus’ hand again, swinging it merrily as he tugged him out of line and towards the sidewalk. “Comes on, let’s goes.”

Still shocked and not knowing what else to do, Magnus allowed Toki to lead him onwards as his heart pounded in his temples and his head reeled. They took a slight hill, minding the slush, and made it to a larger street where Toki directed him right. After a short distance they’d moved out of sight of the parking lot, and Toki stopped.

“H-hey, Toke, where’re we— _oh_ —”

Toki latched arms around him and hugged him, bringing his head to Magnus’ chest to nuzzle into the warmth of his coat. “You’s safe. Toki has you. Ams gonna pass.”

Putting things together, Magnus curled himself around Toki in kind, cheek resting on his knit hat. For a while they just stood there on the sidewalk and kept each other warm now that the sun had set, neither in a rush to let go. He still felt vaguely sick with dread and his pulse was wild, but god it felt good to have Toki there to hold.

“Belly breaths, Magnus.”

“I know. I’m trying, man.”

Toki rubbed his back and spoke soothingly until his breathing, along with everything else, calmed. His arms trembled in that horrid post-panic weakness, but he didn’t feel as rundown as he usually did afterwards. Toki had somehow managed to get him out of there before it got too bad.

“Not, uh...not sure why that happened,” he said once they moved apart. “I was fine at the airport and that was way worse.”

“That’s why ams calleds a panics attack. Panics amn’ts always makings sense. Just happens.” Toki wove their hands together again and began to stroll with him at a more forgiving pace. Magnus thought they might rejoin the line after all, but clearly there was another plan in motion. 

“Guess so,” he said, conceding with a sigh. He wished it wouldn’t happen at all. How many outings had he managed to ruin at this point?

“You ams gonna get better, Magnus,” Toki said. “Two years ago you was ins the hospitals, couldn’ts even stands up and walks around. And now looks! You wents ice skatings yesterday and dids a great job even though you was scareds. You gots to gives yourself more credits. Just thinks of what you ams gonna be doings this times next year. Can’ts waits to find out.”

There was something so certain in Toki’s voice. A contagious confidence. He’d been noticing it lately, but especially the past few days in Lillehammer. Like he was older somehow. Magnus squeezed his hand and grinned when Toki looked at him. “Thanks, bud. I’ll keep trying, I promise.” The warm smile he got in response could’ve toasted a thousand marshmallows. 

Toki led him farther down the street a ways before turning left, then right again. For a moment Magnus smelled chocolate in the air and wondered if Toki meant to stop at the fudge shop where families milled about the bright, cheery windows, but no, they kept walking, past a restaurant and a toy store and a few boutiques. Did Toki even know where he was going? Magnus wasn’t sure he could get back to the Maihaugen by memory.

Distant violins carried strangely over the frozen wind as they turned another corner past an old brick building to the town square. An orchestra?

Toki gasped in delight and quickened his pace, Magnus nearly jogging to keep from getting dragged. “Oh, wowee! They’s really here! Just likes I remember!”

They jaywalked across a slushy intersection to a small park in the center of the square. Spirals of blue lights coiled up the trunks of each tree and further into the branches like a forest of ice. Huge red bows decorated the low wrought iron perimeter fence like icing around a cake, and as they passed through an opening onto the path, Magnus saw the gazebo lit up in white. Each pillar was perfectly wrapped to the top, lending the players within an ethereal glow. 

A large paved space in front of the gazebo served as a dance floor, and about a dozen bundled couples swayed lovingly to the music beneath the twinkling blue trees. Magnus and Toki stood at the edge by a set of benches, still hand in hand.

“Ams _beautiful_.”

“What is this place?”

“Søndre Park.” Toki motioned to one of the benches and Magnus sat, grateful to rest his knees. “Would comes here as a kid after I got kickeds out. There ams a little cafe up that paths by a fountain, and woulds play my guitars there and they gives me a sandwich sometimes.”

Toki didn’t talk about his early life in Norway very often. He’d shared a few key details—how he’d been treated as a child, having to leave home at thirteen, his friend at the black metal shop who’d kept an eye on him—but so much of his childhood remained a mystery to Magnus. And as much as he wanted to know everything, he knew better than to pry.

“That’s awful, bud.” Magnus slid an arm over Toki’s shoulders and gathered him close, not knowing what else to say but wanting to comfort just the same. He just never seemed to have the proper words.

Toki snuggled in against him and laughed to himself. “Wasn’ts so bad, reallies. Was good sandwiches.” 

He went quiet then, and the band swelled with a new piece to fill the silence between them. The folksy little group was mostly fiddles, with an upright bass, a few guitars, and Magnus could hear a flute weaving through it all, stitching the sound together. The dancing couples, most of them gray-haired and lost in their overcoats, continued to twirl under the lights, rosy and undisturbed by the cold as if they’d been there for decades.

“Cames here every Christmas Eve whens I was homeless,” Toki continued, his voice thoughtful and far away. “Just doings this. Sittings and listenings to the inscruments and watchings the dancings. Was likes a movie. Mades me feel so happy, like...like a Christmas present what ams just for Toki. Sometimes would evens imagineds _I_ was dancings, too. Ams pretty sillies, huh.”

Magnus could picture it perfectly—a tiny brown-haired boy, knobby-kneed and pink from the chill, sitting politely on the bench beside them, clapping and cheering for each song as his wide eyes reflected the lights—and he swallowed to combat the clench of tears in his throat. What had Magnus been up to halfway around the world while Toki starved on the streets during Christmas and dreamed of dancing? 

“Not silly at all.” He sniffed and swiped his glove across his eyes and hoped Toki might just attribute it to the weather. “I, uh...I don’t get it, though. This place…it means a whole hell of a lot to you. Why didn’t you ask us to come here instead of the museum?”

“Well…” Toki knocked the toes of his boots together and hummed uncomfortably. “Thoughts it mights be boring, ‘speciallies to you and Pickle. Amn’ts exactly very excitings watchings people dance.”

Blue eyes darkened slightly, and Magnus set his jaw and made a decision. “Well who says we have to watch?”

“Huh?”

The music faded and the couples applauded, and Magnus rose stiffly to his feet in anticipation of the next song, turning to offer his hand to his adorably confused but dearly elated boyfriend. “Dance with me.”

“Ams you sure?” Toki asked, though he was already reaching for Magnus’ outstretched hand. “Didn’ts know you knew hows.”

“I don’t. You?”

Toki giggled as they found a place among the other dancers. “Hads to goes to this dumb fancy ball one times. Some kings or whatever was there, I forgets now. But we hads to learn, and I thinks I remembers, holds on. Gots to put your hands here...”

“...’kay.” Magnus moved his limbs into position as directed, his right hand on Toki’s shoulder, their lefts held off to the side at chest level. Toki’s other hand pressed firm into his lower back, drawing their bodies close with a swift pull and a swoon. “Woah, haha. Jesus, Toke.” Being so intimate where others could see still made his head swim, but Toki smiled up at him, seeming so sure of himself, and the Christmas lights in the trees sparkled like stars in his eyes.

“Just follows my leads.”

Magnus gulped. “I’ll try.”

They weren’t very good. Toki didn’t remember as much as he thought, and Magnus was all feet, stepping clumsily and stumbling in his attempts to keep up. His hand eventually worked its way from Toki’s shoulder to grip the warm space at the back of his neck beneath hair and jacket collar, coaxing a blush into those pale cheeks. They struggled and shimmied and apologized for stomping on toes, but Magnus’ typical anxieties, the inner monologues that constantly chided his efforts, were strangely absent. Toki was laughing. _He_ was laughing. He was terrible at something and fucking up miserably and it was...fun. Really fun.

Felt nice.

They didn’t clap when the song came to an end. Couldn’t bear to let each other go for a second. “Another one?” Magnus asked, and Toki’s eyes welled up and glistened. “Oh, buddy, hey...”

“Ams just...so happy, Magnus. I-I never thoughts I’d gets to do this, and…” Tears spilled in tandem down his cheeks, and Magnus slipped his gloved hand from Toki’s neck to dry him with a delicate touch. It was a lost cause. The floodgates were open. “And...and this ams my favorites Christmas Eve ever. _Ever_ -ever. Ins my wholes entires life.” Sniffling, his smile wobbly, Toki pressed his face into the collar of Magnus’ coat. 

“Mine, too.” Magnus exhaled a shaky chuckle and cradled him there, fighting back some crying of his own. If he started, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop, and it wouldn’t do for both of them to be a mess.

The next song began in a flourish of soft guitar, the violins easing in and setting a gentle tempo. Magnus took it upon himself to lead, rocking them gingerly from side to side while Toki sighed contentedly into his coat. No fancy footwork this time. Just the two of them and the music and the lights and the freshly-falling snow.

Wait—the snow?

”Toki,” he gasped. “Oh, buddy, look.”

Toki peered up, rubbing away the last of his tears, and his joy was immediate. “Wo _wee_. Snows on Christmas Eve!” He giggled and scrunched his nose as fluffy white flakes dotted his cheeks like wet freckles and caught in his lashes. “This ams so perfects.”

Magnus cupped Toki’s jaw in his hand and tilted his mouth close. “It’s just missing one little thing.”

Toki gazed at him, love radiating from his body hot like a fever enough to keep them both warm. “Oh reallies?”

“Mm-hm.” And Magnus kissed him sweetly for everyone to see.

_Just thinks of what you ams gonna be doings this times next year. Can’ts waits to find out._

This, Magnus thought. He wanted to do exactly this...every Christmas Eve for the rest of his life.


End file.
